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Keizer Peter I van Niri, koning van Aquila
Emperor peter was an orginally Akkolovian king that aspired to unite the Nirian continent into a single political entity, in order to stop the incessant warfare of the Nirian middle ages. Although he knew rocky starts, he finally achieved this goal, ending the middle ages. After a failed attempt to quell a rebellion the emperor fled into a cave in Pythonia, known as the Dragon Cave, and was never seen again after, presumed to have died. His death led to the 400 year long period also known as the anarchy. Youth As Peter was born as Petrus, earl of the Heartlands near the end of the middle ages, Peter was shown from the balcony of the Ivory tower in Andasreth, and shown the people to loud jubilation. Born into an Aglo on the verge of economic ruin, the new prince was a welcome sight to the starving people of the Royal capital. As he grew up in thias climate, the young Peter quickly took a liking to the matters of state, as well as history and force of arms. At the age of seven he beat his sword teacher with the Gladius, and when he was nine he was known to play pranks with his friends, mostly harmless, even though it always ended up with him hiding throughout Andasreth and the police and guard going on a wild goosechase for him. As he advanced well in his studies, when he turned eleven he proceeded towards the provincial house every morning to get taught in the art of statecraft, using his by birthright acquired earldom of the heartlands. (Even though most of the heartlands consisted of self-governed cities) and his input was much appreciated. When he was 14 however, his rule was shortly suspended by his father after he made a scene in the parliament of the provinces, when they decided to increase the working hour limit to 15 hours in a day. He shouted at the Dukes and earls of the realm, and was swiftly charged by the head of the assembly for A most unstaturely misdemeanor and henceforth needed an imperial decree and a messenger to announce him to be allowed to enter parliament, the parliament of the provinces and the archprimate. This however deterred him not, from managing his realm with great skill on his own after he turned sixteen, and being faced with constant injustice and counterpushing from the established aristocracy, he found himself a reformer among a vested power. He was however very popular with the Populace of the Heartlands. When he was 17 the Duke of Nova Mare took him out on a campaign to intervene in an Enbizakan clanwar that was being fought out on the Meiji no Bunja, in the east of the Duchy. The Prince surprised everyone when he was the first to strike upon the foe, and immediately sent one of the armies routing while slaying all foes around him and commanding the remainder of the army to swerve around and cut off their retreat. He then proceeded to annhilate the two clans, and sent them in a complete rout back across the border. The prince had proved himself a great commander among great cheers of the knights at his side. At the time of his fathers death when he was but 18 years of age, the prince had established himself as a reforming political figure, with the great ambition to put an end to war by utilizing it. As he ascended the throne, people were generally hopefull about his chances for a succesful reign. Internal Reform and ambitions As the young king ascended the throne he was immediately faced with great problems internally, mainly a failing economy and many provinces broken away. Before his coronation, the situation seemed almost unsalvagable. Petrus however immediately decided to take matters into his own, competent hands. His first action was to end the rule of parliament, since they had seized power since his father had fallen sick. The young Petrus marched on parliament with the Royal Guard, as he had heard they had shut the doors. Under loud booing Petrus entered the houses, but found the door slammed in his face. Parliament had refused to repeal the order locking him out. Petrus however did not care, and had the door broken down with a park bench being used as a battering ram. Petrus calmly entered, and had parliament dispersed and ended. After this eventful week, Petrus in the next to years set on remodeling the army and restructuring provincial government. The Army was still very much reliant on the Knights on Foot, men in full plate armor with great swords who performed heavy shock charges and went toe to toe with infantry that was often better equiped, and the knights on horse with effectively the same purpose. Also they worked with the legionnaire system for the regular levy, which was a relic from the ancient era. Petrus did away with all this and in three years completely overhauled the army to make it more surprising and effective. The units were henceforth two thirds pikemen and a third gunners, a new invention of the times. The gunners would first strike at the enemy from concealed positions to thin their ranks and provoke a charge, which will break upon the walls of the block off pikemen into the gunners will retreat while keeping off enemies. This resoundingly worked in the battles against the Enbizakans and rebels which were fought in this period. Every unit was made up of a square of a thousand men, with an artillery battery with three guns to back it up. The provincial government was to be restructured, and the parliament of the provinces was expanded to be sat on by not only nobles from the provinces, but also local merchants and working men, making it the first representative body since the ancient era. New earldoms were also created and bestowed upon some commoners, balancing out the humours of society, a very radical move for it's time. The march of the Northern Mountains was also finally ended as this was partitioned between the earls of Pomme Vise, Goudmuil and the newly created Lux Regae monastic order. After this land reform, the nobles in the south Revolted, forming the Colorian Land Union, and made war against the king. This short war proved the raw effectiveness of this New model army as the rebels were soundly beaten in the battle of Exterior, when the rebel cavalry was lured right into the centre of one of the pike squared, and almost completely destroyed. After this the king laid siege with royal array to all the towns and castles, bringing it down in weeks with his newly devised artillery battery. This definitely ended the dangerous instability of the kingdom, as all the reigns of power were now firmly in the hand of the competent young Petrus. Petrus then saw the futility and pain that war brought with it, and vowed to stop it on the continent. This is a task on which he set. The wars of Petrus The war on the tribes of Evikur Aglo had always known of the raids from the north across the mountains, constantly ransacking the Aglominian mountain villages. Petrus himself had fought against these raiders as well, and repelled them numerous times. They had nothing more than sticks and stones, but were still highly feared by the men of the northern marshes, and later the counties established by Petrus. When he was 28 however, the ultimate reason for war came. The Evikurian king from the Lautakalla tribe, Erhi Lautakalla I, had come over the mountains and sacked the ancient temple of Lux Regae, sending most of it's warriors south to join Petrus his army. Petrus upon hearing this, saw this as a chance to permanently pacify the Evikurians. He forced his way through the pass near the burnt out temple, breaking through a force of 2000 Epicurians with his own 20000. Soon he captured the Royal capitol of Vanikalla, and forced the chief to abdicate to him. He did not stop here however, and marched his army on, taking Viirpu as well. The Northern tribes however, saw all this and did not idle and formed into the Hekut confederacy, and put forward the young Kisalian chief Jalkki Kisala III to lead it. Jalkki led an army of 30000 tribesmen unto the plains to face the army of Petrus, who could not conceal his armies on open grounds. He did not hesitate and let the artillery open up on the Hekutian centre, which consisted mostly of levied spearmen. The High King then send forward all his troops for a charge, but with the centre already weakened, Petrus ordered his pike squares to take on the flanks while his gunners and cannon all focussed on the centre, pushing it to a breaking point, and then finishing it off with a charge off knights, sending the weakly armed Hekutians flying. The cavalry then swerved around and hit the flanks in the back, trigerring a mass rout. High King Jalkki III was killed by a matchlock musket and found 30 years later. The capital of Talinta was swiftly taken and the country incorporated, Petrus changing his name into the more common-language friendly Peter, and took on the title of high king of Evikur. The war on the kingdoms of Mammon. Although Mammon was seen as more civilized than Evikur, it was still a great collection of warring states to be pacified in the eyes of the King. The justification came at his age of 43, when soldiers from Warton captured an Aglominian child from the Evikurian areas, and Peter immediately rushed to assemble a force of 5000 men, mostly retrained Evikurans, to pacify it. First however Peter laid siege to the kings seat at Falcons Lair, and took it with ease. Second was the king of Warton, who now even more so refused to give up the child, hauling out some cannons of his own to face Peter. WIth semi-precise musket fire on the fields near Warton, a hastily put together motley crew of Wartonian peasants armed with weaponry far over their heads tried to dispute the field with the forces off Peter. Peter however led his knights in person across the Glenvale river, into the enemy and made them flee back into the city. After constant bombardment for almost a week and many men lost to counterfire, Warton was taken. The high Judges and Kings of all remaining cities then yielded their power and tribute to the king, who assumed the title of High King and Judge of Mammon. The Yielding of the Aksians and Lardonians As the Northern ambitions of Peter only greatened, he decided it was time to complete his conquest of the North with two crown jewels. The old Magic kingdom of Akso, and the mystic volcanic island of Lardonia. As Peter marched his army of 50.000 into the old kingdom of Dinmoor, he was met by an envoy handing him the royal regalia of the Kingdom, as apparently the nobles in the capital had heard of Peters approach and had heard of the tales told about him, and decided to depose their monarch, Jonathan Red II, in favor of him. Peter happily accepted and travelled to Akso city while being cheered on by many onlookers. Here he stayed for a month, while laying siege to the royal castle for two months, seeing how Jonathan II had locked himself in there, pardoning him after the siege. In the meantime he had trained 10000 more Dinmorians however and marched on the main price, the throne of Akso, taking the small town of Brownmoor after a day of skirmishing. His scouts however reported that the main Aksonian force of 45.000 men had swerved down south towards the village of Hilton, trying to flank the Aglominian force. Peter immediately diverted south, and met the Aksians here. The enemy army was led by Charles II of Akso, and was very similar in makeup to the Aglominian army prior to the reforms. Petrus started off with firing his artillery at the packed groups of Aksian cavalrymen, sending them into dissaray and making them charge in pride and anger. In the treeside that bordered the battlefield musketmen were peppering the riders with shot, and they did not notice mostly. Some riders tried to attack the treeside but were impaled on the wooden stakes the Aglominians had hastily erected. The rest charged straight onto the pike block. This was not a total disaster however, as the Aksian knighthood was still highly renowned and the charge had a huge impact with many pikes breaking. The riders however where thereafter quickly despatched when they were surrounded by many more blocks of pike wanting in on the action. The enemy however saw the backs of these blocks exposed and sent in the legionnaires, intending to flank them. This was the first moment that Peter had been in serious danger. in a haste he tried to form a rearguard, but the charge of the Aksian legions joined by their king in the bloody fray quickly resulted in a rout of some of the pike blocks and two artillery pieces being captured. As the Aglominian left wing retreated Petrus reinforced it, putting his Dinmoreans to use for the first time. The line held! A counter charge sent the legions reeling and put them in place. However, the pikes were still hardly holding, and the situation was dire when the Aksian guns opened up on the tightly massed groups of infantry. However finally, Peter found king Charles on the field, and slew him in single combat finally putting the Aksian legions to a rout. The next day, Peter assumed the throne of Akso in the royal capital, as the clans of the final kingdom in that region, Leiferteria, elected him high king too. Then Peter crossed the channel unto Lardonia, and took the city of Comme, destroying the tribes within. Through acts of kindness on his way to conquer the other two city states, Parvie and Volchien, the rulers of these cities promised their subservience. The seizing of Worowilza, Dumnonia and the pacification of the rest of the continent through ACCA. When anarchy broke out in the kingdom of Worowilza and the Kingdom of Dumnonia invaded it, Petrus immediately withdrew his army from the north to take the old lands for the crown. He crosses the border at Zielin, taking it with ease from the local warlord with the locals hailing him as a liberator. Only the lords at Szczedrzyk and Oswiecim resisted, but their small feudal armies were easily dispatched in small skirmishes, mostly decided by cavalry charges. After a siege, the royal palace of Szczedrzyk was relieved and the country was restored to order. The tribe of the Rozli in the southeast surrendered the city quickly when a joint force of Peter from the west and an Elven army from the east was approaching. The Dumnonii chieftains, not wishing their nations to fall into war again, forced their high king to swear subservience to Petrus. Petrus, not wishing anymore war, sent out emmisaries with a thousand men each to each of the remaining countries, and tried to put them under his new idea to rule the entire continent effectively, ACCA: A central bureau to ensure rule of law and a good quality of life, in return for their right to retain the throne. These are all the answers. Taldya: The gracious Timemaj declines your offer, but is sworn to the peace on the continent. And although he refuses your rule, he will guarantee to not wage a war on another or his own people, and to accept an envoy every year. We acknowledge your rule. Enbizaka: We, the Emperor of the great land of Envizakka, Omoko-O-Mikoto of the line of the God Susanoo, decline your gracious offer, but will accept to pay you a yearly tribute and to acknowledge your wish for peace. And will keep a peace of the realm and abstain from warring against you. Torgay: ''As emperor of Toragay, I gratefully accept your offer to shield our nation from the horrors of arms, and help our citizens lead a happy life. The Lucifenian Counties: We accept your gracious offer of suzerainity and we have all heard of your great achievements. Please hurry and relieve our lands of famine. The tribes of Plodania: The tribes have decided for me, the great plop, to decline your offer. We are content with our own business. We will not war on you. The cities and counties of Pyton: As far as the council has spoken, we see your offer as very beneficial and are thankful for the oppurtunity of cooperation with your great realm. The rest of the world was uncontacted. Emperor Peter was happy with these answers. Assumption of the throne, rule and death. Shortly after at the age of 98, Peter was crowned Nirian emperor in the great hall of the ivory tower in Andasreth by the grand Patriarch of the church. Celebrations went on for two weeks, with dignitaries from everywhere within the empire and without paying their respects and tribute. After that, Peter went about setting up Acca, and was constantly travelling everywhere to inspect new public works funded by his crown, and punishing those dissenting from the new order. After about 50 years of plentiful rule and only minor rebellions, Peter ruled over a happy and economically flourishing nation with a content and well cared for populace. With ACCA running exactly as intended the place had the highest standard of living in the known world. This all changed however when, the Elphegortians revolted. When Peter took Elphegort, the city was ruled by tirannical nobles who after acquescing could not wait to see Peter gone, and so they rebelled against himwith a reluctant populace backing them out of fear for a reprisal. As Peter heard this, he was filled with anger at these men that somehow felt that they had to disobey and destroy his utopia. He immediately mustered a crack force of 60.000 to supress the revolt, and followed the newly constructed imperial road northward to lay siege to Elphegort. While travelling there for two months, they got worrying reports about the local armies being soundly beaten and the new Imperial city of Porto Vertis being taken by the rebels. At long last, the army arrived at Elphegort but only found a rump force of 5000 men inside and quickly captured the city. After questioning locals, they said the army went into the mountains in the north, and so Peter went out again to vanquish them definitely. The further he went north however he felt something was, as he crossed the mountains to reach Bellewaerde in Pythonia, he felt he had gone too far. As he ordered the army to turn however, he saw only 90.000 men assembled on the plains below. The Elphegortian army had simply first gone North, then west to await the emperor to ambush him. In the chaotic battle that followed, the Elphegortians Came down from the mountains around, with the front ranks of the army being equiped with firearms and the rest with greatswords. The front ranks fired, blinding the bamboozled Imperial force with smoke from the muzzles, and decimating it. Afterwards, the greatswords cleaved through the pike wall, and the Imperial army was quickly annihilated, forcing the old emperor to flee. The old man, on his own, stumbled into the mountains. Finally according to eyewitnesses seeking refuge into an old Pythonian cave known as the Pythons Cave. The Elphegortian army was a day later destroyed by an Imperial relief force led by the Aglominian crown Prince. After finding out about the emperors whereabouts he sent in a Pythonian army to retrieve him. The armies however, only encountered undead warriors speaking the ancient dead Yehmuderan tongue, and a creature they described as being a dragon. Since then, the old emperor was presumed dead. An old tale however states, that when Aquila is in it's greatest hour of need, the emperor will return to wreak havoc on his enemies. The missing of the emperor resulted in the breakup of the empire, leading his dream to be torn apart by selfish warlords and petty kings in the epoch called the great anarchy. This epoch sadly destroyed the emperors utopia for 400 years, with millions lying dead. Although this epoch has since ended. Prayers go up towards the cave everyday hoping for a miracle as the world is consumed in darkness once more, damned by the prying silence of the eyes of the chasms ancient guardians. This was the tale of Peter the Great, first and last emperor of Niri, and Bringer of peace.